Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to share time with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to discuss how the Government is tackling educational disadvantage. I also welcome her openness about challenges that remain to be tackled as we work to ensure no child is left behind on their educational journey.

Last month, the Minister and I visited St. Philip the Apostle Junior National School in Mountview, to mark the extension of the hot school meals programme to another 713 schools, meaning more than 550,000 children across the country now benefit. Nearly 1 million students now have access to free schoolbooks. These universal supports are invaluable. However, there are many schools where more targeted supports are needed, including in areas such as Tyrrelstown and Powerstown where schools are not currently included in the DEIS programme. I hope revisions to DEIS will consider eligibility criteria. I welcome the Minister's intention to establish a new DEIS Plus scheme to support schools with the highest concentration of educational disadvantage to improve educational outcomes, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

The teaching of English as an additional language, EAL, is of significant value in communities I represent. I appreciate the investment and pressure on demand in recent years, particularly supporting Ukrainian children in schools. Future allocation policy must continue to evolve to reflect actual need. It is currently based on pupils who have arrived in Ireland in the last two years, those with less than three years EAL support, or who register less than a B1 in an English proficiency test. The experience of schools is that we could better recognise the number of children born in Ireland who may not have English as their first language, and children who require ongoing support. Expanding EAL support will help more children access education fully and confidently. Some 90% of students in St Luke's National School in Tyrrelstown speak a language other than English but they have received just one EAL teacher for every 146 children. Powerstown Educate Together National School has children from 64 countries speaking 57 languages, yet this school has no allocated EAL teacher.

It is important to commend the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in working with me and parents to establish a task force for children with additional needs in Dublin 15, and supporting local principals through the common applications trial. These actions will make a difference. Nationally, 399 special classes have been sanctioned for the 2025 school year. This level of investment is welcome, but we know that every year brings a deeply stressful period for families trying to secure an appropriate school place. That uncertainty must be avoided. The only way to break this annual cycle is through forward planning and systemic change in that regard. We need a five-year strategic approach to ensure special school and class places are delivered on time and aligned with the projected 5% of students requiring special education supports.

I firmly believe that if we have a policy of opening special classes it should include reading classes for children with severe dyslexia. I welcome the Minister of State's acknowledgement that expanding reading classes would be a positive step. While 15,000 special education teachers are supporting students in mainstream schools, children with dyslexia still need more targeted interventions.

I acknowledge the amazing work of teachers. We face a national challenge in recruiting and retaining teachers in special education settings. I believe teachers deserve an allowance that recognises both the choice they make to work in a rewarding but demanding environment, and the additional training required, particularly in special schools where they need to deliver three curricula - primary, junior cycle and senior cycle. Supporting teachers also means supporting principals. There are principals and deputy principals in special schools all over the country whose salary is based on the NCSE allocation of eight teachers, not the full team they manage. At Danu Community Special School the actual staffing team includes 60 people - teachers, SNAs, bus escorts, a caretaker, a secretary and a part-time cleaner. Every member of staff in a special school is the responsibility of the leadership team, and these leaders deserve more support.

Much progress has been made. Naming the outstanding challenges is the first step to tackling those challenges and achieving even more progress.

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